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ORDINARY PEOPLE [Main Title]

Summary: Film showing the way that a group of people spent 24 hours during the period of the Blitz in London.

Description: The film begins with general shots of London by night, followed by shots of morning, with people coming out of an air raid shelter after having spent the night there. A couple go home and see that a house near to them has been bombed; the husband then goes to work in a factory. In a shop (Bourne and Hollingsworth's), a sales assistant shows a woman some cardigans. Post Office workers are shown checking wires in bombed areas. Also shown is a court. The air raid siren goes as the court is sitting. The film shows various peoples' reactions to the siren: men in factories, people in the street, an ARP warden, and people in Bourne and Hollingsworth's carry on as normal and hear the message over the loudspeaker; the woman seen earlier takes the woman and daughter who have been bombed out into her house. Back at the store customers and staff take cover in the restaurant, the court adjourns to the basement, men working in the road go for their tin helmets. The all-clear goes: in Bourne and Hollingsworth's, the woman buys her cardigan. Night-time is then depicted; there is another air raid warning. The film concludes by showing the community in an air raid shelter, and a warden patrolling the street; the soundtrack is of people singing.

Notes: Documentation: sections of this film are included in COI 716 Reel One, one of a series of BBC Television films entitled 'War In The Air' dealing with the battle for Britain.
Production: the film was made in 1941 and released in 1942, intended for overseas distribution only